Miles from Nowhere
by isolated fear
Summary: It was supposed to be a normal mission, but aren't they all? Sheppard and his team get into trouble offworld again. Rated T for a little language, nothing too bad.
1. Chapter 1

Miles from nowhere

Disclaimer- Don't own 'em, never will, and if I did I couldn't afford their medical bills. (especially after this story) evil laughter

Comments make me type faster so tell me what you think. (This is my first fanfic so try to be nice to me.)

Part one

"I don't see why I have to keep coming out to all of these backwater colony worlds that haven't even come as far as inventing the light bulb," Rodney McKay whined as he exited the wormhole, "my expertise could be much better used back on Atlantis now that we've managed to piss off yet another another race of Ancient-hating aliens."

"I believe that the Replicators would have attacked us eventually without our interference, Rodney." Teyla said as the Stargate shut down."They seemed to be holding quit a grudge against the ancestors."

"I actually don't blame them," John Sheppard commented.

Rodney looked at him.

"What, if I'd been abandoned by my creators, or whatever Ancients are to those things, I'd be willing to hold a grudge."

"For thousands of years?"

"Well, maybe not quite that long."

"Hmpf." Rodney adjusted his pack. "Can we get moving and finish this completely pointless mission before dark, I have no desire to be trekking through pitch black forests with flesh eating monsters and god knows what else trying to kill me today."

"Don't be so melodramatic, McKay. Besides Ronon will stop all of the monsters from goring you." Sheppard grinned at the Runner. "Won't you?"

"Yeah," Ronon said pulling out his blaster for emphasis, "But I don't think the monsters will bother you."

"Why not?" Rodney demanded.

"Because all of that sunscreen you're wearing will make them think twice about eating you. You'd probably make them sick."

"Hey, it's not my fault I have naturally fair skin." Rodney pouted rubbing in a white blotch above his nose.

"The MALP saw smoke coming from this direction." John said gesturing with his P-90 attempting to break off the argument.

"It is most likely a village." Teyla said, "It would be wise to get there before dark, we would not want to frighten our potential allies with our sudden appearance."

"I don't see how good of allies people who most likely don't even know how to use the stargate could be." Rodney said as they started walking in the direction of the village.

"Shut up McKay, they might have a cool Ancient temple you can poke your nose around while we try to trade." Sheppard proposed trying to get Rodney to shut up for a minute so he could hear himself think.

"Not very likely, Ancient temples have to have an energy source, and if there was an energy source we would have been able to detect it by now." Rodney snapped back.

John watched as Rodney whipped out his hand held Ancient do-hiky and looked for an energy source despite what he had just said. Typical Rodney, says the first thing that pops into his head without thinking. Not that John believed that there was anything Ancient here, just like Rodney had said, it was a supposed to be a small community. A few villages scattered across the hillside. At least according to the Atlantis database, of course it had been a few thousand years since it had been updated. But the database would have mentioned if there had been anything Ancient built here.

Rodney finished searching with his scanner. Satisfied that there was nothing anywhere around them giving off an energy signature, he looked up. They had only been walking for about two miles and the sun was already starting to set. So much for his 'don't get eaten by roaming midnight monsters' plan. As they kept walking in silence the forest around them started to come alive. All sort of odd alien bugs started chirping and McKay swore he saw something big with fur. He was about to make a rude comment about how Sheppard's' leadership skills needed improvement if he was willing to let his team be stalked my werewolfs when Teyla spoke.

"The village is just up ahead." She pushed aside a bunch of branches and the team followed her single file with Ronon bringing up the rear. When they emerged from the trees they were directly behind a log cabin.

"This looks promising." Colonel Sheppard said walking around the outside of the house.

"Yes," Rodney said looking toward a lit up window, "they're way more advanced than I thought. They've discovered fire."

"Why don't we knock and see if anyones home." Suggested Sheppard, completely ignoring Rodney's comment. He strolled up to the door of the house and banged on it twice. He waited a few minutes and looked at Teyla. "Looks like no one's home."

"Perhaps we should try one of the larger buildings." She suggested.

"Good idea."

As they approached a central looking building they could hear music playing inside and people talking loudly.

"Looks like this is the place." Sheppard said. "Who feels like crashing a party?"

"It does seem like a gathering of some sort." Teyla agreed.

"I'm all for it as long as we don't end up on the menu." Rodney groused. His comment was sarcastic bet John didn't think that he looked too apprehensive. He look over at the runner trying to tell what he thought of the plan. Ronon shrugged and gestured for him to knock on the door. John did so. Again they waited for a matter of minutes.

"I do not believe they can hear us." Teyla observed.

"I think you're right." John reached for the doorknob and pulled the door open. Inside people were everywhere, all were too busy either dancing, drinking, or talking to realize their arrival.

"Hello folks!" John shouted over the noise. Only a few people looked up. They quit talking immediatly and started staring, those who were still talking were soon silenced by their companions.

"Hi, my name is John Sheppard," John began, speaking to his his curious and startled audience, "and these are my team members Teyla Emmagen, Ronon Dex, and Rodney McKay." he pointed to them each in turn, "Is there anyone here who is in charge?"

"We are peaceful explorers." Teyla added quickly, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea. John nodded in approval. The team looked out over the group waiting for someone to distinguish themselves. Some drunk man in the back hiccuped loudly.

"I am in charge." A man near the front said standing up. He was a short, young man wearing something close to a suit, his face was clean shaved and his hair was a rich brown color. John watched him as he circled around them looking them over. Ronon growled in annoyance as he flicked at his dreadlocks with curiosity. It was all John could do to stop from laughing. He could tell Rodney was having the same problem because he snigered somewhere behind him. The man apparently didn't notice or care about the visitors distaste of being stared at and continued inspecting them.

"My name is Teram." He said finally standing back. "May I ask what you're doing in our village?"

"We are explorers." Teyla replied. "We come to learn about your people in hopes that we may become allies."

Teram paused and appeared to be considering her offer. "And you are the leader of your people?"

"No," Teyla smiled, "that would be Colonel Sheppard."

Teram turned to face him. "You wish to form an alliance with our people?"

Sheppard nodded, he was starting to feel a bit nervous talking to this guy. All he seemed to do was ask questions. "And we were also wondering if you could give us a place to stay tonight. We walked a long way from the Stargate."

"Stargate?"

"Big round thing, with symbols that light up." Rodney stated. "Of course it's probably too advanced for your pathetic scien-..."

"It is not important at this time." Teyla said cutting off Rodney in mid-rant. "Perhaps you know it as 'The Ring of the Ancestors'."

"Ah, of course." Teram answered. "But if you are peaceful explorers," He asked staring directly into Sheppard's' eyes, "then why do you carry weapons?"

Teyla looked at John, her eyes telling him that he should answer this one. He unhooked the clip on his P-90 and held it out in front of him.

"We carry weapons to defend ourselves, you never know what kinds of wild animals and violent people you might encounter on another planet. If you're interested, we can supply weapons like these for your people if we decide to trade." John wanted to get the idea of negotiations out as quickly as possible so they could finish this mission and head back to Atlantis. He could send back another team to close the negotiations later. This guy was officially creeping him out. He could tell by his team mates nervous glances that he was not the only one sensing something was off.

A girl got up from the table and stood next to Teram. She was wearing a white and yellow ruffled dress that made her look not unlike a layered cake. In fact, all of the women in the room were wearing similar dresses.

"Such serious matters like negotiations should not be discussed tonight," She was telling Teram, "tonight we should be celebrating." She turned to talk to Sheppard. "Would you care to join in our feast?"

"What exactly are we feasting for?" Rodney asked.

"Why the hunt, of course!" She replied acting as if it was absurd that they didn't know. "Teram slayed the biggest runner beast of all." She stood on her tip toes and kissed Teram on the cheek, he didn't even so much as smile, which unnerved Sheppard even more.

"Please, join us."

Feeling there was nothing to loose, and that they didn't have much of a choice, Sheppard sat down at an empty space at the table, Teyla moved to sit next to him but was stopped by two girls.

"Oh, no! You can't eat!" They cooed.

Sheppard and Ronon were on their feet at once, "Why not?" Sheppard demanded.

"Because she is not in formal dinning attire." One of the girls replied. "She needs to come with us."

"Um, I don't think so." Sheppard said, he was already feeling uncomfortable being here and he didn't want any of his team members out of his sight.

"It's alright, John." Teyla said, "I will be fine. If this is their custom I should abide by it."

John frowned but agreed and sat back down at the table as he watched the girls guide Teyla away. He drew his attention back to the food on the table. The feast looked incredible. There was a big chunk of some sort of meat in the middle, and dozens of smaller side dishes all along the table. He helped himself to something that looked a little like mashed potatoes.

"Does this have citrus in it?" Rodney was questioning a man sitting next to him.

"What is citrus?"

John rolled his eyes as Rodney attempted to explain to the confused villager what citrus was. He started eating some of the meat and was surprised at how good it was. It was so tender it practically melted in your mouth.

"Wow, maybe we could trade for some of this stuff," he said to Ronon. The runner grunted through a mouthful of the potato-like dish. John was just about to take anther bite when he saw something moving in the back of the room.

"Oh my..."

TBC

What did you think? Was it good? Please R&R!


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

Okay, second chapter. Sorry it took me so long to post an update, my real life has been getting in the way. Comments are greatly appreciated so please R&R.

"..God" Sheppard stammered. Was that-?

"Teyla?" Rodney croaked, confirming what Sheppard thought. She was standing awkwardly in the back of the room arms folded over a pink dress that was so frilly it looked like it could be part of an overly decorated wedding cake. The two girls that took her to get changed were bobbing around her either trying to put her hair up or take her vest and P-90 that she was carrying. She turned to them and said something that John couldn't make out, then came over to the table and sat in the seat next to Sheppard.

"Teyla," John started not exactly sure what to say, "What-... wow, um... You look nice."

"Thank you." Teyla said coldly, trying to get adjusted in her seat so that she could breath. "I do not see why anyone would choose to wear something so uncomfortable, but the governor's daughters were quit insistent."

"Let me guess, the governor was the guy we just talked to." Sheppard said.

"Good job pointing out the obvious," Rodney sneered, "of course he's the governor."

"I don't trust him." Ronon grunted from across the table still shoving his fork into a massive plate of food in front of him..

"Glad to know I'm not the only one." Sheppard replied. Everything about this town felt off to him. He wasn't sure what it was, but he had an odd gut feeling that something bad was going to happen. What he really wanted to do was talk to this governor tonight and high-tail it out of here in the morning. But from the looks of things that wasn't going to happen. Everyone seemed too preoccupied by the festivities to think twice about them. He took another bite of the mashed potatoes and sat back as the music started playing again. He was just starting to wonder if they should just give in and start partying with the villagers when a girl in a blue layered cake dress came up to him.

"Would you like something to drink?" She asked. Without waiting for an answer she poured him a glass of a bubble gum pink liquid and handed it to him. "You should really try it." She urged. "It is the best Ovian Juice in all the land. Or maybe you would prefer to dance?"

Sheppard was a bit taken aback by how insistent she was being and politely declined. The girl's face fell.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to be rude. I just saw you over here and thought you might want to... Never mind I just, I'll see you later then." The girl was blushing deeply and quickly walked away. Rodney sniggered.

"What!" John asked irritably turning to face McKay. Much to his surprise Rodney wasn't the only one looking at him. Teyla was giving him a hard stare with her eyebrows raised and Ronon was smirking at him. They all seemed amused. "What?" John asked again. Only getting more annoyed.

"You really are Kirk." Rodney said in awe. John glared at him. Ronon just shrugged and went back to eating, Teyla gave him a slight smile. Now he was really frustrated. "Look, I don't know why she did that." He fumed snatching his drink off of the table.

"How do you do it?" Rodney was asking, "It it like some top-secret military interrogation technique or something?"

deciding he wanted to get a little little space between him and Rodney, John got got up from the table and headed towards the other side of the room. Teyla and Rodney exchanged startled looks at his sudden outburst.

"We should follow him." Ronon said getting to his feet.

"I don't believe that would be wise." Teyla told him, "I think we should leave him alone for a little while."

Sheppard closed the door to the cabin and sat down heavily on the stairs. Why did all of the alien chicks want to swarm him all the time, and what made Rodney so damn ignorant? He swirled the pink liquid in the glass and sniffed it. He took a small sip, hmm, tasted a little like kiwi. Sighing he stretched out his legs and looked at the stars. Why did SGA-5 get all of the uninhabited planets? It would be nice to have a mission once in a while where all they had to do was camp under the stars. Of course with Rodney along it wouldn't be exactly peaceful, he always found something to complain about. But oddly, Sheppard wouldn't want it any other way. Despite the fact that he was a genius, annoying or not Rodney was part of his team. He wasn't really sure why he went off on McKay that way, he wasn't mad at him. At least not really. John figured he'd better go back inside before Ronon came outside looking for him. He pushed himself to his feet.

"Whoa." All of a sudden John didn't feel so good. He put his hand against the wall of the cabin to steady himself as the world spun dizzily. Damn, he cursed looking at the half empty cup of whatever-the-hell that girl had given to him. This was the last time he was eating anything but MRE's on other planets. What the hell was in that stuff? He tried to resist the darkness that formed at the edge of his mind, but couldn't and his world faded to black.

Inside the cabin the rest of the team were talking, completly unaware of what plauged their leader.

"I don't know, Teyla." Ronon teased, "You look pretty good in a dress."

"Whatever this thing is, it isn't a dress." Teyla replied, annoyed by her male team mates constant staring, "I have no problem wearing a dress. Dresses are a functional article of clothing. This thing is not."

"I don't know if good is the word I would use." Rodney drawled.

"Shut up, McKay," Ronon growled, "or I'll drag Sheppard into this."

"Speaking of which, where is Sheppard?" McKay asked looking around the room.

"I believe I saw him heading outside," Teyla said, "but that was some time ago. I thought he would have returned by now."

"He's not in the cabin." Ronon observed.

"If he has been gone that long we should go looking for him," McKay said, "or one of the natives could give him a alien STD."

"I agree." Ronon grunted, "I don't trust these people." The trio left there places at the table and headed toward the band playing towards the front and the door..

"Where are you going?" Teram asked stopping them a few feet from the door.

"Colonel Sheppard went outside some time ago," Teyla asked, "do you happen to see him leaving?"

"I did. He said that he was tired, my chambermaid escorted him to the guest house." Teram replied. "Why don't you let him sleep and stay here and enjoy the festivities?"

"I think we've had enough partying for one night don't you think." Rodney said turning towards Teram.

"What Rodney is trying to say is that we are also tired and wish to be escorted to the guest house." Teyla translated, "Would you summon the chambermaid to show us the way?"

"I'll take you myself." Teram offered opening the door.

Teyla nodded in thanks and left the cabin, McKay and Ronon followed. Outside the weather was peasent, a cool fresh breeze blew against everyones faces. At first glance there seemed to be no sign of Colonel Sheppard. Then Ronon spotted something and thumped McKay on the arm.

"Hey, watch it! Are you trying to break my arm?"

"Look." Ronon said pointing at something lying in the grass by the steps.

"That's the glass that he had from dinner isn't it?" Rodney said.

"Shit."

The glass was cracked into several pieces and lying scattered across the grass. The hot pink liquid that was inside stood out in splattered droplets against the grass.

"There are two sets of footprints leading this way." Ronon noted, keeping his voice low, "Somethings not right."

"Are you coming?" Teram called from up ahead with Teyla.

"Shoe was untied." Ronon called and mentally noted the direction the footprints traveled in. McKay was already jogging to catch up with Teyla. Just a little farther into the village Teram stopped in front of a small beat up house, that looked like something that had been in the midst of a Wraith culling.

"This is where we're staying?" Rodney sputtered, "Is this how you people seriously treat your guests, because..." He never got to finish his sentence because right at that moment he heard people scuffling behind him. As he turned around he felt something long and hard make contact with his skull. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

TBC

Well? was it a good second chapter? Please tell me, I'm dying for some comments.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

This chapter was written while I was in Reno at an Irish Dancing compition. I'm not sure why I'm telling you this, exept to let you know that I had this part written a while before posting. Sorry for the delay. Anywho, please R&R!

Dr. Elizabeth Weir sat with arms crossed staring at her laptop computer. Who would have thought that paperwork would be such a big deal in another galaxy? She still had dozens of mission reports to go over and more than a couple of briefings to plan. And it didn't help that it was the Atlantian equivalent of midnight. She absentmindedly looked out of her office at the stargate. Colonel Sheppard's team was off-world at the moment, and if everything went as planned, would return early tomorrow. Well, today, she reminded herself staring at the clock on her computer. It read 12:37. Elizabeth decided that she'd better call it a night and head to bed. She might manage to get a few hours sleep before Sheppard's team gated-in.

Grabbing her now cold coffee off of the table she left her office. The two gate technicians, unlucky enough to have gotten the graveyard shift that night, smiled at her as she walked by. Everyone on the city knew how Dr. Weir stayed up almost all night. And that included Dr. Beckett, Atlantis's resident CMO. Elizabeth swore that one of his favorite pass times was berating her about her sleeping habits. Telling her that coffee wasn't a good substitute for much needed sleep. Though she knew he was right, Carson himself had a reputation of working the clock around. In fact, most of the original expedition members found it hard to get to sleep at night. After all they'd been through sometimes it amazed her that they were able to sleep at all.

Elizabeth slowly made her way to her quarters, her warm bed waiting to give her some much needed comfort.

SGA-SGA-SGA-SGA

Pain was the first feeling Sheppard's still groggy mind registered when he began to regain consciousness. Next was the fact that he was lying on cold, hard, stone. Why was he on the floor? He started to lift himself up off the ground but his head immediately took issue with that. Damn, it felt like he was hung over. Oh right, he remembered, evil kiwi juice of death. Pulling himself the rest off the way into a sitting position, he quickly found the closest wall and leaned against it. Unfortunately, it did nothing to alleviate his headache or the growing nausea in his stomach. Whatever that girl put in that stuff was strong.

When Sheppard's headache was manageable enough, he opened his eyes. He was the only person in the room. Where was the rest of his team? When had they realized he was missing, or had they even noticed he was gone? It was hard to tell how long he had been unconscious.

While he waited for something to happen he went over items in his mental to do list. 'Find out why these people can't be trusted' just got a big red line through it. And 'find out what these insane sons of bitches want from me' was written in its place.They didn't know they were from Atlantis, so the fact that he had the Ancient gene probably wasn't it. They could want their advanced technology... John cringed inwardly, if that was the case offering to trade weapons with them probably wasn't the best of ideas, especially after the Genii. Even if he all he meant was a few small handguns. Okay, that was a really bad lapse of judgment. Elizabeth would have him scrubbing the jumpers with a toothbrush if she found out.

Just then the door on the other side of the room swung open. Bright yellow light flooded the doorway. The lights were so bright that John couldn't see the faces of the men that pulled him to his feet. He swayed unsteadily as his stomach threatened to send his dinner up for an encore. God, he hated being interrogated. It never ended well on his part.

"Bring him." a voice called from the doorway.

Sheppard got half led, half dragged out into a long hallway. The flicker of hope that he could somehow remember the way he was taken and escape, was immediately gone. This place looked like a maze. Passageways kept branching off of each other and intersecting. He doubted even Ronon could figure his way out.

"Move." One of the men gripping his arm ordered.

"You know, I think I'd rather just stay here."

"You will come with us." The man ordered growing more impatient.

"I don't think s-" One of the guards punched him in the face sending him reeling backwards on to the floor. Then they yanked him back to his feet and steered him through the hallways as he tried to stop a bloody nose. He guessed these guys had never heard of anger managment. Down, right, left, right, pretty soon he lost track of the halls he was going down and just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Which was hard enough considering his head still felt like it was on fire.

After walking for what felt like hours they came to a large door. One of the guards yanked it open and shoved Sheppard inside. He stumbled under his own weight for a minute after the guards released him. Once he found his equilibrium, he looked up. Standing across the room from him, just like he expected, was Teram.

"Ah, John Sheppard, how nice of you to join us."

"Not like I had much of a choice." Sheppard retorted, referring to his bloody nose.

Teram chuckled, "No, you really didn't. Do you know why you're here?"

"Well, as soon as you tell me I will." John replied.

"Good answer." Teram said, "I like my prisoners to have spirit, makes the interrogation more fun. Have you ever tortured anyone, Sheppard?"

"Can't say that I have."

"Then you can't appreciate how enjoyable this will be for me." Teram grabbed a long leather whip and advanced toward John. A maniacal grin on his face.

SGA-SGA-SGA-SGA

Rodney woke up, and after being knocked out by a heavy iron bar, waking up is hard to do. Every inch of him ached like he'd been run over. When he got his hands on the driver of the truck they were going to pay, he thought angrily. Teyla and Ronon were talking somewhere nearby and their shouting was NOT helping his headache.

"Hello, dead man sleeping here."

"Rodney!" Teyla got up from somewhere else in the room and crouched at his side, "You're awake."

"Obviously," Rodney moaned, "What happened?"

"We got captured." Ronon pointed out.

"Again, obviously. Someone help me up." Rodney grumbled, attempting to pull himself into a sitting position. Teyla put one hand on his back and grabbed his wrist with her free hand and pulled. Together they got him leaning against the wall where Ronon was sitting. Rodney forced his eyes open. While he had been knocked out it seemed that his teammates both had their share of the fight that must have ensued. They both were sporting bruises of varying sizes all over their bodies. He wondered how many me it would take to do that kind of damage to both Teyla and Ronon.

"How did we get captured?"

"At least two dozen men," Ronon informed, "cane at us from all sides."

"Well, that should have been easy for you." Rodney felt the need to comment. Ronon and Teyla both glared at him angrily.

"We have been unable to locate Colonel Sheppard." Teyla said, changing the subject.

"We're assuming he was taken here." Ronon said.

"I do not believe he would be anywhere else," Teyla replied, "as we were only attacked and taken prisoner after we expressed a desire to find Colonel Sheppard."

"This is the last time I risk my ass for him." Rodnet groused.

"Rodney, John would do the same thing for us if we went missing."

"Well, maybe that's why we end up captured so often!"

No one could argue with that. There seemed to be an ever-present curse on their team. Especially when it came to 'routine' missions.

"So what's our plan of escape?" Ronon asked.

"Do I look like the one who comes up with the suicidal, let's just barely escape with our lives, plans? Ask Sheppard." Rodney snapped, "Besides, I'm sure that once we're overdue Weir will send a team in a Jumper to come and rescue us."

"And how, do you propose, Dr. Weir should find us? I do not know where we have been taken, and I doubt the villagers will present the information willingly." Teyla informed.

"Who said anything about them being willing?" Ronon asked.

"Dr. Weir would not authorize the use of force to obtain information unless it was absolutely necessary, Ronon."

"We're being held hostage by these people! I think that falls under the 'necessary' category." Rodney said sarcastically.

"I agree."

Teyla sighed, "But She has no way of knowing if the villagers are being truthful about knowing nothing of our disappearance."

"If She talks to that guy, Teglen."

"Teram"

"Whatever, if She talks to him She'll have no problems figuring somethings up." Rodney said. "He makes Caldwell look like and emotional teenage girl."

Ronon looked like he about to say something but fell silent. Rodney almost asked what was wrong, but Teyla put a finger to her lips.

"Footsteps." She whispered.

TBC

_How do you think this last chapter went? Please do tell, I'm having some misgivings about it myself and want to know what other people think._


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

_I was looking over reviews this morning and I thought. Hey wait a second, I changed a few parts in this. Apparently I accidentally forgot to save the new version before I uploaded.laughs Here's the Chap. 4 with less spelling errors and all of the rough spots smoothed out. Sorry about that._

The footsteps slowed and and came to a stop outside the door. Ronon quietly got to his feet and stood by the wall with his arms out in front of him ready to hit whoever came through. Everyone agreed that this plan probably wouldn't work, but it would be foolish not to try something at this point. Teyla got up and stood at the other side of the door, ready to assist Ronon in what they all hoped would be their escape. The key clinked inside the lock. Taking a shallow but deep breath Ronon pulled his arm back and aimed. Teyla put one foot back and raised her fists. The heavy door swung open and Ronon barely missed decking Colonel Sheppard as he was thrown into the room.

"John!" Teyla cried, grabbing their team leader trying to soften his fall. Ronon lunged at the people in the hallway, but the door was slammed before he could reach it. He growled with anger and  
frustration and beat on the heavy wooden door with his fists.

"John." Teyla was saying slapping him softy on his cheek. "He is unconscious." She reported.

"What did they do to him?" Rodney asked, moving closer to the crumpled figure on the floor.

"He was beaten." Teyla said, her fingers brushing over the deep lacerations on his back. Even in his unconscious state her action caused him to wince in pain. She drew her hand back.

"So what do we do now?" Rodney said, his normally sharp arrogant voice uncertain.

"We escape." Ronon answered on mock-helpfulness.

"Oh, yes, that's _so_ helpful." Rodney replied. But only with a hint of his normal sarcasm.

"Well what do you want me to do McKay?" Ronon asked.

"Break down the door, kill someone, just do something." Rodney ground out. "Am I the only one that noticed that these are the same people who were, a few hours ago, invited us to join in a feast? Now they beat up Colonel Sheppard and locked us in a cell! How am I supposed to react!"

Teyla unconsciously held Colonel Sheppard tighter in her arms. The contrast of her freshly pressed pink and white dress against John's torn and bloody clothes only added to McKay's sense of wrongness about this whole situation. What had made the nice, all be it creepy, natives decide to kidnap them and throw them in a cell? As well as torture their leader? Now, Rodney prided himself as a pretty reasonable person. But when he go his hands on that Teram, he wasn't responsible for the consequences. He couldn't remember being this angry since he last worked with Kavanagh. Ronon and Teyla obviously felt a similar way. Ronon was staring off into space with his, kill-all-leave-no-survivors look. And Teyla was looking at Sheppard in a caring and motherly fashion, given the opportunity she would likely attack like a mother bear defending her cubs.

John groaned and twitched a little on Teyla's arms. "John." Teyla said, trying to coax him into complete consciousness. He moaned, and then began to cough violently. Telya supported him as the spasms shook his slight frame.

"T-yla, -kay. Wha' 'appened?" He choked out. It was McKay who answered.

"Your all-star gut feelings were right again. The pathetic excuse to the evolution of human intelligence, Teram, has treated us to the finest of this planet's hospitality."

"Glad you guys had fun." John replied, exhausted from his coughing episode. Every breath hurt like a dozen bees were stinging his chest. So he guessed he had at least one broken rib, most likely more.

"Are you in pain, John?" Leave it to Teyla to be the kind and considerate one.

"I'm fine." He replied, trying to reach a sitting position. Teyla helped him off of the awkward and embarrassing spot on her lap to lean against the wall.

"What do these people want?" Ronon asked from the corner. Jumping strait to the point.

"They didn't really tell me much." Sheppard paused to cough, Teyla moved to his side to rub his  
back. When he finished he resumed speaking.

"Thank you, Teyla. Anyway, mostly Teram just asked me a bunch of questions about where we came from and who we are. And when I didn't give him the answer he wanted he beat the crap out of me. He even was polite enough to let his goons take a turn." It was just like John to try to downplay how injured he really was. Everyone could see that he was not treated lightly, and had come out the worse for it.

"But from what I heard, it seems like we gated to a planet right in the middle of a civil war.  
Apparently Teram and the rest of this small town place are essentially the Rebels, who are fighting against the main government of this planet."

"So what do they need us for?" Rodney asked. "If they wanted us to help them they wouldn't have captured us like this and let us stay in the 5 star hotel."

"Like I said, Teram ended up doing most of the talking. I'm not completely sure. But, I have a hunch that it's to have some sort of leverage against the head honcho in charge of this planet."

"Are you telling me that we are these people's bargaining chips!" Rodney gasped.

"I'm not saying anything for sure," John said, "but the way I see it that's what's going on."

"What good are we to the standing government?" Teyla asked. "They know nothing of us, as we have not made it as far as the larger city."

"Am I the only one who realizes how easy it would be for these people to, oh I don't know, lie to their enemy." Rodney responded. "They know as much as these Rebels want them to."

"That is true." Teyla replied.

"We still don't know what they want." Ronon stated, "They might just let us go."

"I don't think so," John said, "that guy Teram is determined, and darn crazy on top of it. Even if he doesn't get what he wants out of us he'll come up with some use for us. And I don't think we'll like it."

Sheppard broke out into another fit of coughing, and this time it didn't pass in a few seconds. He sat there doubled over gasping for breath.

"John!" Teyla was calling his name, but he wasn't paying attention. It hurt more than he thought is possibly could. Tiny knives were digging at his lung tissue, he couldn't breath. Black spots danced in front of his eyes as he struggled to stay conscious. He was dimly aware of more voices calling his name as, for the second time that night, he feel into darkness.

SGA:SGA:SGA:SGA:SGA:

"How late are they?" Dr. Weir asked, concern filling her voice. Whenever SGA-1 was overdue, it never ended well.

"Four hours, ma'am." The technician replied.

"Thank you. Dial the gate." She instructed the young technician, "Lets see if we can make radio contact."

"Yes. ma'am."

He did as he was told and the giant ring started spinning. What could have possibly happened to Sheppard's team this time? Weir wondered.

_Chevron one engaged._

They were the most accident prone team under her command, and that included SGA-7 who had just come hobbling through the gate a few hours ago. They had confirmed that the natives on P79-527 were not friendly, the hard way.

_Chevron two engaged._

Colonel Sheppard was one of the best team leaders she knew, but trouble just seemed to follow his team around. It was some kind of intergalactic jinx.

_Chevron three engaged._

A jinx that was going to make her hair go gray if they didn't cut it out. The ulcer forming in her gut already had their name on it.

_Chevron four engaged._

God, she hoped nothing had happened. Not this time.

_Chevron five engaged._

They were just running late, that was it. A little bit farther back to the Stargate than they'd thought. No big deal.

_Chevron six engaged._

Teyla would have been able to keep them out of most domestic trouble, and Ronon, well, he was Ronon. Rodney, he could just as easily be part of the problem or the solution. She was sure they were just running late.

_Chevron seven locked._

The Stargate kawooshed to life with a brilliant blue splash. Time to see what was going on out there. Dr. Weir pressed her ear piece.

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Atlantis. Please respond."

Static.

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Dr. Weir. If you can hear me please respond." She glanced at the technician, he shook his head.

"Shut it down." She commanded. Sighing, Elizabeth released the breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Try redialing an hour from now."

"I will, ma'am."

Dr. Weir headed to her office, she still had more paperwork to finish. Not that her mind was on it anyway. She would wait a few more hours, and try contacting them on the radio a few more times before she sent another team after them.

Oh, John. What have your team gotten themselves into?

TBC

_I finally figured out where I want this story to go. More whumping and adventure to come! Still sorry about my uploading problem, I hope this version is a little better.  
_

_Please comment. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

_I tried to write this fast as I could, it didn't get done as fast as I'd like but, here you go... __Thanks to Tori for the beta! _

_And please comment!  
_

Buzzing, were there bees in the room? John raised his off of the, now familiar, cold hard ground. Nope, ears were ringing. Had he passed out again? This was getting to be an annoying re-occurrence. Damn, his lungs hurt like they'd been ran over with a steam roller, and his ribs were protesting to his odd position on the floor. John gently rolled to his side then pushed himself to his knees. Ow, that _hurt._ The first thing he realized about his surroundings was the fact that Teyla was no longer in the room. Oh, shit. Not her.

"...Teyla?" He had meant to ask where she was, but the single word was all he managed to mumble. Oh well, it got his point across because Ronon answered.

"They took her."

Shit, crap, and shit. Poor Teyla, why did they take her? He raised himself off of the ground to get a view of the remaining members of his team. Hopefully she wouldn't be as roughly treated as he had been. Teyla was a fierce diplomat, but these people didn't seem willing to listen to reason. He doubted that anything she could possibly say would make any difference. Their situation seemed hopeless. Again.

"How long ago." Wow, this time he managed a full sentence.

"About a hour."

John waited for the inevitable commenting from Rodney, but it never came. He turned to where his friend had been sitting. He wasn't there. Why hadn't he noticed that? McKay wasn't one easily missed.

"Took McKay too." Ronon said, reading his mind.

"Crap." Sheppard forced all of his emotion into the one word that summed it all up. McKay and Teyla, what could they possibly want with both of them? He didn't want to think of any more of his team getting hurt, let alone two.

"Well now these guys are really pissing me off." Sheppard growled, temporarily masking his fear for Rodney and Teyla with anger. If they'd been gone an hour... What had happened to them by now? He looked over at Ronon, the man had a tough appearance. Looked like he could snap you like a twig. Was that why he wasn't taken?

"Hinges are tight." Ronon said. John realized that he must've been pulling on the door to see if it would break open. Not exactly likely considering this was a prison cell. No easy unnoticed escapes for them.

"Weir would've sent reinforcements by now." Sheppard noted, with a deadpan voice, "They would've searched by Puddle Jumper. This place must be hard to see."

"Or underground." Great, if they were underground then their escape would be twice as tricky. Not only would they have to find their way out of a heavily guarded prison cell, but also find an exit to an underground bunker.

"They're coming." Ronon said. He didn't bother trying to keep his voice quiet this time, there were too many guards with the prisoners to try to escape.

The door creaked open and John was surprised and relived to see McKay enter unscathed. He allowed his heart a moments relief before he set eyes on Teyla. Or rather, the limp form of Teyla. Oh. no. She was thrown into the room face first and it was Rodney who caught her fall. Sheppard moved to help, but his ribs seared with pain and he didn't get to her side very fast. Ronon beat him there and rolled her over out of McKay's arms. She was covered in blood. The fresh red liquid oozed from a cut on her forehead and coated most of her face. The residual blood on McKay's hands from holding her was proof enough that she too had been whipped. As bad, if not worse, then John had been.

"What did they _do_!" He demanded. John looked up at Rodney. His face was pale and he looked somewhat shell shocked. "Rodney?"

"This is my fault." Rodney said. Still staring at Teyla's bloodied form.

"What do you mean _your fault_?"

" She was tortured because I wouldn't talk." He replied, "Oh God, this is my fault." His voice started to get high pitched with hysteria.

No it's not, Rodney." Sheppard comforted, his voice tight and forced. He didn't blame Rodney, he did what he had to. They couldn't reveal Atlantis's secrets to these rebels. But Teyla had been beaten, someone was going to pay.

"What kind of information did they want?" Ronon asked.

"Why would they do that to her, she didn't do anything." Rodney replied. Too lost in thought to answer.

Sheppard stole Ronon's question, "What did they want?" He didn't get a reply.

"Rodney!" Sheppard shouted, snatching the physicists attention away from their injured teammate, "What information did they want?"

"Where we were from, how our weapons they stole from us worked. Does it really matter?"

"Did they say anymore about why they wanted us?" Ronon questioned.

"No, all they did was drag me into a big room with some other rebel guy..."

"Not Teram?" John interrupted.

"No, not Teram, but someone with the same need of a strait jacket and a rubber room. Are all of the people in this place completely lost their minds?"

"Apparently." Ronon said.

John crawled over to Teyla while McKay and Ronon where talking. He tried to see if he could stop some of the bleeding from Teyla's many wounds. But it had mostly stopped on it's own, so he used pieces of their tattered shirts for temporary bandages. After he was finished he sat back to admire his work. Not as good as Doctor Beckett would do when they got back, but it would do for now. It would keep the deep lacerations relatively clean. He shook her shoulder a little to see if she would wake up, but she was out cold. It was probably for the best. She would've been in a lot of pain.

Ronon and Rodney had stopped talking and were watching him and Teyla.

"She looks terrible." Rodney said. John had too agree. She had lost too much blood and was very pale. He reached up to feel her forehead, it was cool to the touch.

"Give me your jacket, Rodney." John ordered. McKay usually would have said something sarcastic that would annoy Sheppard, but now really wasn't the time. Rodney realized that and handed over his coat without a word. John laid it over Teyla's midsection.

"We should get her out of here soon." Ronon said.

"Yeah."

"And you." Sheppard looked up at the Runner.

"You're hurt too."

"Yeah, you can't get sick and die from some alien infection and leave us stranded here." Rodney said reaching up to feel John's forehead, "See! You already have a fever. You're and Teyla are both sick and now I have to find out how to get us all out of here by myself."

"I'm fine," John replied, "and_ I'll_ find a way to get us out of here." Rodney was regaining some of his sarcasm, that was a good sign. At least for him.

"We aren't getting through that door," Ronon gesturing at the wooden frame, "has to be opened from the outside."

"So we wait 'till someone comes to get one of us out." Sheppard said.

"Nah, too many guards. When they came for Teyla and Rodney they brought a small army." Ronon said.

"Than later, when they're taking us for more questioning." John proposed.

"One person couldn't take out that many people." Rodney said, "Unless they were a uncivilized cave man with a over sized wooden club. Ronon why don't you try." Ronon's eyes shot daggers.

"One person couldn't do it." John agreed, "but maybe two could. Ronon and me."

"And why would they take both of you? Why not the caveman and I?"

"They'll take us if we're the only two conscious. Rodney, how well can you play dead?"

"Play dead? I honestly haven't ever tried. Normally I'm trying to avoid being dead, not making it look like I am." He replied with some disgust.

"Just act like you fainted and when the goons come for more victims they'll have to take us." Now that they had a plan of action their chances of escape just went up. Up to a number that was just within their shooting range.

John continued, "Then we'll come back and spring you guys out and we're home free. Easy!" Okay, easy it was not. But it was the best plan they had so he had to make it sound convincing. McKay looked fine with it, but he wasn't the one doing the fighting. Ronon, well who could ever tell what Ronon thought?

It was some time before the guards came again. When Ronon heard their footsteps he practically knocked Rodney out for real shoving him to the floor.

"Hey, careful..."

"Shhhhhh."

Rodney lay as still as he could. He hardly dared to breath when the door opened. One of the guards, he couldn't tell how many there were in all, walked over and kicked him painfully in the shoulder. Hey watch it, don't damage the goods.

When he got no response he told the other goon, "Take the other one."Good, they were taking Ronon. So far according to plan, Sheppard's team one and bad guy's zero. He stayed stone-still until the door swung shut. Now all he needed to do was wait for the fireworks to start, which he hoped would be soon.

TBC

_Hope you liked it. I tried to get a little more of McKay's sarcasm in this chapter, I didn't feel like I was doing his natural complaining instinct justice in the last few chapters.  
_

_Comments make my fingers type faster! _


	6. Chapter 6

_I hope you guys like this chapter, I stayed up practically all night working on it. Thanks again to Tori for the beta. Please review!_**  
**

**Part 6**

John and Ronon were manhandled out into the hall, and the door swung shut behind them. 'Good 'ol Rodney got out of the fighting once again,' thought Sheppard. Not that he would have been much use in a fight anyway. John smirked, maybe when they got back to Atlantis he would put him through some training sessions with Ronon. That would at least teach him the basics of fighting, or just land him in the infirmary. Probably the later of the two.

He turned a little to the side to get a better look at Ronon and their escorts. There were four guards total, two of them were holding their prisoners by the arms. The others were walking behind them, looking scary, and each carrying three foot long swords in their hands. If they didn't have swords they might have had a better chance of getting the upper-hand in this fight. Ronon looked at John and then looked at the upcoming corner, he was signaling that there was where they were to attack. John, barely noticeably, nodded back. As they approached the turn, Ronon reached down on his belt and grabbed a hold of a small knife he had concealed in the wrinkles of his pants. John eyed his movement incredulously, he thought Ronon had stopped carrying knifes hidden on his person a long while ago. He had never been happier to be wrong.

The guard holding Sheppard's wrist yanked him around the corner, wham! He spun around and planted his fist in the man's face, then he lifted his combat boot and nailed him in the one place a guy _really_ doesn't want to get kicked. Ronon pulled out his knife and proceeded to stab his escort in the stomach. Both guards collapsed to the ground. The two armed guards stared for a moment at their fallen comrades before lunging at the escapees with weapons raised. Ronon avoided the first blow from the guard easily and dived at him with his small knife, just grazing the man's forearm. The thug growled with pain and anger and lunged again.

John was dodging the swinging sword, just barely missing the glistening metal blade. Without any sort of weapon he had no way to defend himself against his oncoming attacker. Then he remembered seeing a smaller belt-knife on one of the fallen guards' hip. He ducked, avoiding the blade again, and jumped over the murdered guards. The knife was tucked in a pocket on the man's pants. Sheppard grabbed for it and pulled it out. Or rather, tried to, the knife was stuck.

"Crap," John said, pulling harder at the stubborn piece of metal, "Come on!" The knife still wouldn't budge. The armed guard not engaged with Ronon was advancing on Sheppard, his sword was raised. Then the knife pulled free. He thrust it up and rolled, trying to deflect the downward blow from the deadly blade. Despite his efforts, he wasn't fast enough. The silver metal slide down the short knife and sunk into soft flesh of his arm.

Ronon heard Sheppard's agony-filled scream echoed along the corder. He didn't need to think twice to know what had happened. He thrust the knife into his opponent, delivering the final, crushing blow. Releasing one final ragged breath his adversary sunk to his knees and drew breath no more. Ronon spun around only to see John lying at the other end of the hall, the guard lifting his sword to plunge it through Sheppard's chest. There was no way he could get there in time to stop the weapon from reaching it's destination.

Even with his eyes closed, Ronon could see the look of shock and pain on John's face as the sword was thrust into him. Knowing there was nothing more that could be done to help Sheppard, Ronon threw himself at the man responsible for his injury. His skull crunched satisfyingly under Ronon's fists, blow after repeated blow. The assault continued after the murderer was dead. Although he could no longer feel the pain inflicted upon him, the action consoled the distraught man inflicting it. Every broken bone in his body was retribution for what he had done to Sheppard.

Exhausted, Ronon leaned back away from this victim. It was hard to bring himself to look at the weapon protruding from his leader's chest. His_ still moving chest._

"Sheppard," Ronon called running to his side. He didn't know how it was possible, but the man was still alive. He crouched next to his injured friend and looked at him in dismay. He had survived the attack, but would not likely survive any escape. The sword was digging into his chest right between his ribs. How it managed to miss his heart was a miracle. From the limited medical training he received on Sateda, and from what Dr. Beckett had told them, removing the embedded object could often cause more harm then good. But from where he stood there didn't seem to be mush of a choice. There was no way that they could escape and keep the sword from injuring him further.

"R-non," Sheppard ground out between rattling breaths, "g-et this... da-mn thing...o-ut of me."

Knowing what had to be done, but not wanting to be the one to do it, Ronon grasped the hilt of the sword.

"This is going to hurt," He warned before pulling the sword up and out as fast as he could. If Sheppard's screams had been of pure agony before , he must be in the most unbelievably pain now.

Fire. His chest was on fire. Pain rolled like heavy waves up and down his middle. There was soul-piercing screaming, it was his. He tried to stop crying out but his voice didn't belong to him anymore. It was making his unendurable pain known. The burning metal felt like it was only going in deeper instead of being removed. Every shallow breath he took forced the pain to go further into his flesh. Maybe it would be easier to just stop breathing, to make the pain go away.

"Sheppard!" Was that Ronon? He was calling his name. John wanted to answer but he couldn't. Only sounds of more raw pain escaped. That couldn't be Ronon, he was pressing on his chest , making it impossible to breath. He was suffocating him. He tried to lift his head up to see what the man was doing. Wait, it was Ronon, he was bandaging his chest. The light brown cloth torn from the guard's clothing was wrapped tightly around his freely bleeding wound.

"Sheppard, I have to go back for Teyla and Rodney," Ronon was saying. But all Sheppard heard was a distant roaring in his ears. Hearing wasn't important right now, all he knew was pain. Then he felt Ronon leave his side. Why was he abandoning him? He wasn't dead yet. It seemed like an eternity before he returned. First he heard footsteps banging along the hall, then Rodney rounded the corner and burst into view.

"Oh my God!" Rodney exclaimed, staring at Sheppard's bandaged chest, "how did-...what?"

"Take a picture, McKay," John moaned, his attempt to be somewhat encouraging to his fearful teammate failing, for his voice sounded weak and pain-filled even to his own ears.

"Ronon said you were hurt, but," Rodney stammered, "but, oh my God!"

"Thanks for the encouragement, Rodney," Sheppard murmured weakly, the little strength he had left quickly fading. Teyla came around the corner next, supported partially by Ronon. She still looked like hell. Which was probably an accurate analysis of how John looked at the moment to his team.

"John," Teyla whispered, letting go of Ronon and slowly making her way to his side unaided. John was aware that she knelt at his side but didn't have the strength to turn his head to look at her, "can you hear me?" She asked.

"Te-lya..." Sheppard croaked.

"We must get him out of here," Teyla reported to Ronon and McKay.

"How are we going to do that?" Rodney squeaked. He was still staring at the blood that covered Sheppard. Ronon decided to take control of the situation.

"Rodney," He barked at McKay, "help Teyla, she can barely stand."

"But what about-."

"I got him," Ronon replied, answering Rodney's half-finished question. He jumped over the corpses on the ground and landed behind Sheppard. Seeing that Teyla was already on her feet supported by Rodney, He bent down to lift his team leader.

"Hold on, Sheppard," Ronon instructed, as he lifted him onto his back in a piggy-back position. John's hiss of pain was all to evident.

"Sorry," Ronon apologized, already starting to move down the hall, "McKay, lets move!"

The team started awkwardly moving down the maze of hallways. Teyla and Rodney bringing up the rear. There was no identifiable system to how they were choosing halls to follow. If it looked like it might lead out, they took it.

"This is ridiculous," Rodney complained, "we are never going to get out of here at this rate!"

"Do you have a better plan?" Ronon asked, obviously strained, but not by the weight Sheppard was adding.

"There has to be some sort of system to how these tunnels go," Rodney was saying to himself. As Rodney continued to mumble, the team continued to follow the same random path. Then they came to a big heavy iron door. Ronon turned and looked expectingly at McKay.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Rodney whined.

"Open it," Ronon replied.

"Why can't you? You're the muscle man."

"Because I'm carrying Sheppard," Ronon thundered, getting very annoyed.

"Right," Rodney said walking forward and pulling at the large door handle, "It's stuck."

"Let my try, Rodney," Teyla said. McKay agreed, and him and Teyla pulled together at the stubborn door. Slowly, ever so slowly, the door opened. And much to everyones relief, it opened with a cool night breeze. The team practically jumped for joy. They did it, at last they were free.

"Going somewhere?" A voice came from behind them. Ronon felt the hope he had just gained drain out of him. With a sense of forbidding he turned around, standing right behind them was Teram.

TBC

_Poor Sheppard, I'm just so mean to him. _

_Please review!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Finally, here's chapter 7. Sorry it took so long to update, I had the two word illness that every writer fears: Writer's Block! I sat in front of my computer and the words just wouldn't come out. I had to keep re-writing this section again and again until it was decent. But now I hope I wrote something at least half-way good. _

_Please comment. _

**Part 7**

For a minute nobody spoke, then Teram broke the awkward silence.

"Pity you felt the need to leave so soon," He said, "I was just starting to enjoy the party. It's not often that we I get visitors that have the chance to be so useful to us."

"And what do you want us for, huh?" Rodney asked, "We haven't done anything to you."

"Please, if you had done anything to anger me you wouldn't be standing there right now. Just as I said, you're a useful resource, nothing more."

"Let us go," Ronon growled, his face a mask of anger.

"Oh, not yet. At least, not home. For you will be taking a little journey with me and my men," Teram gestured to a large team of goons behind him. He grinned at the number of able bodies at his disposal, "To tell you the truth I was quite surprised to see that you had overpowered my four escorts. You are indeed as strong bunch. I'm almost sorry to see such strong people delivered to our enemy. But politics is politics. "

"Then why are you turning us over?" Teyla asked, still slumped against Rodney, "We are injured, and our people will compensate for our safe return."

"Then would they not also be willing to pay ransom?" Teram inquired.

"You aren't seriously considering giving us up to your enemy so they can have the advantage of our people's technology, are you?" McKay asked, shocked, "That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard! Give the enemy the greatest weapon at your disposal, that's really smart."

"Seriously, do you really think we're dumb enough to give up something as valuable as yourselves?" Teram asked, "You're the decoy. We go in under the pretense of the negotiation of the off-world prisoners. Then, when the moment is right, we attack. Brilliant, no?"

"No," Ronon said, glaring at Teram.

"Don't you realize that by doing this, you are only making yourselves as bad as your enemy," Teyla pointed out.

"We do what we have to," Teram said, "If our land falls to the Empire, than our whole planet will become one of mass chaos. You have no idea what that government plans to do!"

"And we don't care! Look, he is dying!" Rodney yelled, pointing as Sheppard, "If we don't get him medical attention soon, he _will die!_ A dead man isn't worth a whole lot in negotiations! "

"I can't say that I regret that your friend was injured," Teram replied, "After all, he did murder several of my best men."

"Oh, yes. Blame Sheppard for defending his life," Rodney said. For the first time, Teram looked annoyed at McKay's comment.

"Take them," Teram ordered his guards, "We leave now for Kerasport. There is no doubt this is going to be an interesting day for us all."

Doing as they were told, the guards grabbed for their recaptured prisoners. They even went as far as pulling Sheppard from Ronon's back. John groaned as he was ruffly tossed to the ground. Ronon tensed at his friend's pain. This time there was nothing he could do to help, for the guards had his wrists bound. They had repeated this precaution on the rest of the team as well. Including Sheppard and Teyla, though Ronon wasn't sure why they thought two people barely able to stand posed much of a threat.

A few minutes later they were all standing outside the building, ready to leave. Teram gave the order to move out and the whole group started moving. Forward they marched toward a small path leading up a tall mountain peak far in the distance. Kerasport was at the base of that mountain, Teram had told them. It would likely be a full days journey before they got there. While their group was mostly composed of full grown highly trained men, their progress would be short due to the injured among them. This was certainly going to be an interesting trip.

_A few hours later..._

"Move faster!" The guards ordered.

They had been walking for several hours and the planet's sun was starting to set. Amazingly enough, Rodney had abandoned his complaining about how tired he was and the distance they had to walk. But that only made Teyla worry about his health. She tried to speed up her pace once again, but her weakened muscles didn't feel like cooperating.

Not long after they had started walking Colonel Sheppard had collapsed. Poor John, she didn't know how much more of this he could take. After he passed out, two of the guards had been carrying him up the trail. Even though he didn't have to walk the traveling had taken it's toll on him. His face was covered with sweat from an obvious fever. If they didn't get him back to Atlantis soon... No, she didn't want to think like that. They would find some way to make it back.

"We'll stop here," Teram ordered, "There is no way we'll reach Kerasport before nightfall."

Rodney was the first to hit the ground when Teram told them to stop. His feet were aching and deep breaths only brought up more sticky mucus. Exercise had never made his list of things to do, and walking all of that way made him realize how much he really appreciated cars. Teyla and Ronon sat down next to him. Teyla was looking even paler than he remembered, her eyes slide shut even as he watched her. Damn, how were they ever going to get out of this?

The two guards carrying Sheppard's limp form came up beside them and dumped him on the ground like a sack of potatoes. Teyla summed together what little energy she had, and weakly crawled over to him. Gingerly she pulled back the makeshift bandage covering John's wound, the flesh was angry red and burned with a heat greater than the fire crackling beside them. The infection had already spread past the initial injury, thus his fever.

"We must try to cool him down," Teyla said, worry evident in the tone of her voice. Ronon immediately got to his feet.

"Where do you think you're going?" A guard watching them said.

"We need water," Ronon replied.

"What for? We gave you water bottles when we started hiking."

"That was hours ago!" McKay interrupted, "We don't have any left. Besides it's now for us, it's for Sheppard. He's hotter than a furnace and most likely minutes away from a fatal seizure. Couldn't you idiots manage to do something other than looking threatening for two seconds to help us?"

The guard gave Rodney an angry look and Rodney returned the favor. Both stood by Teyla glaring at each other like a pair of caged animals. Rodney was surprised that Teyla didn't try to intervene, normally she would step in and break up these kinds of fights by saying something like,_ 'fighting does not help our situation, Rodney.'_ He must have underestimated her injuries, this ordeal had most likely been just as hard on her as on Sheppard.

"Get them their water." Teram called between mouthfuls of his dinner. "After all, we don't want the leader to die before we reach our destination. It'd ruin our plan."

_He gets dinner? _Rodney thought angrily. At least they were getting water for Sheppard, the angry guard had already disappeared around the cart that held the few supplies they had brought. Drowsily, Rodney looked back to Teyla who was pushing back sweat-soaked hair from John's face. The guard returned with a bucket of water, which he tossed down with obvious annoyance. Fresh water splashed over the lip of the container with the force to the impact.

Without looking up, Teyla tore a piece of cloth from her dress and dipped it into the cool water. She wrung it out and began to wipe down John's sweat and grime covered face. Even unconscious, the comfort this simple gesture brought was noticeable. Sheppard turned toward the cool hand and the refreshing water dripping down his brow.

"See if you can get him to drink any." Rodney suggested. It was only at this point that Teyla noticed that he'd been watching her, and she agreed with him. She unscrewed the top of her canteen (Sheppard hadn't been provided with one) and filled it with water. Careful not to spill, she raised the rim to his lips. If Teyla had wondered if he would be able to drink, her question would've been answered almost immediately. His body knew what it needed, and when the sweet liquid reached his lips he began to drink it down. At least he was getting hydrated.

After Sheppard had drank his fill the team was so tired that it would have been useless to even try to stay awake. Teyla, who had taken the job of 'pillow' for John, feel asleep as soon as her head laid on the ground. But for Ronon and McKay, falling asleep wasn't so easy. To mentally and physically exhausted to talk, they both lay on the ground with their eyes closed, considering all the events that had passed, and what they might possibly plan to do in the future. What had at first seemed like an ordinary meet and greet mission had turned out to be much more then they had bargained for. Who knew what would take place tomorrow when they reached Kerasport? Even if everything went smoothly they would still be prisoners of Teram. And what he planned to do with them no on wanted to contemplate.

As the fire burned low, Ronon and McKay's thoughts grew heavy, and pulled them towards the realm of sleep. Both too tired to resist they let sleep claim them and throw them into blissful oblivion.

SGA:SGA:SGA:SGA

The world was exploding! Fire, burning everywhere. People screaming. What was going on? Rodney woke to a world of chaos. An arrow whizzed right passed his ear and embedded itself into the grass.

"Oh my God!" He screamed. They were under attack! Rodney leaped to his feet and started looking around for Ronon, Teyla, and Sheppard. They weren't there. Stricken by panic and fear, McKay ran around the outside of their camp and hid behind the small cart. The rest of his team couldn't be far, they wouldn't just eave him in the middle of a battle. Would they?

Random guards and soldiers ran in different directions around the camp. Somewhere nearby Teram was shouting, "Catch them you fools! We can't let them get away!" '_Let who get away?' _Rodney wondered, 'N_ot Ronon and Teyla, they wouldn't have left without me.' _Suddenly, another sound was added to the mix of screaming and burning arrows. Gunfire. Somehow Ronon and Teyla had gotten their weapons back! Or, Teram was using them to ward off there attackers. Either way now was the perfect time to escape.

Dizzy with adrenaline, McKay threw all of his strength into running to the tree line, the direction of the gunfire. Whoever their attackers where, they had just saved their asses. Rodney plunged into the trees leaping over dead logs and fallen trees. The firing stoped.

"Teyla!" Rodney called, to the empty forest around him, "Ronon!" No one answered.

"Tey--." He began to yell again. But someone clapped a hand over his mouth. He started to struggle frantically against his captors arms.

TBC

_How was it? Was the fact that I was sleep-deprived obvious when you read it? _

_Please comment._


	8. Chapter 8

_I can't believe how long it took me to find time to write and upload this thing. Not to mention I have dozens of plot bunnies running crazy in my brain... I think they want to eat me._

_Well, I have it finished! Don't forget to tell me what you think, I love the feedback!_

**Part 8  
**

"Be quiet." A strange voice hissed. Rodney struggled harder, trying to make his feet and arms make contact with anything that resembled flesh. Suddenly, Rodney started to stumble as he was dragged backwards deeper into the forest. The hand was still clasped over his mouth so he couldn't voice the anger and uncertainty he was feeling. Deeper and deeper into the woods he was dragged, and still backwards. 'What was the point of walking backwards?' He wondered. Suddenly his captor stopped, and Rodney continued to back-pedal. He tripped over his captor's feet and landed flat on his back.

"What the hell!" Rodney yelled, "Why did... What?"

"Rodney." Finally, a familiar voice.

"Teyla," Rodney asked, "What's going on? What happened?"

"I am unsure." She replied. Wondering what the cause of her short reply was he looked up. Oh... Teyla and Ronon were sitting with their backs to a large rock with John lying still unconscious between them, and in front of them were three people standing with guns. '_Oh crap_, Rodney thought,_ not again!' _

"What do you want with us?" Ronon growled. Judging by the anger and annoyance in his voice, this was not the first time he'd asked.

"Now that you are all together I will tell you," The tallest man said, he took a deep breath before beginning, "There is much at stake in the government at this time. Our once greatly supported leaders are throwing aside important issues to increase their own personal wealth. Essentially the very fabric of our humble existence is falling apart. We don't know what we can possibly do."

"Yes, we've been hearing a lot of that lately. Have you been talking to Teram?" Rodney asked, "You seem to have a lot of the same material."

"That slim-sucking, keltock-kissing son of a whore?! That man is psychotic, he will bring about the destruction of our entire planet given the chance! How dare you associate me with him!"

"You do not feel that attacking the leaders of this planet is the appropriate course of action?" Teyla inquired.

"They must not be allowed to continue their leadership," The man replied, "but there are better and more successful plans of action to be had than his ignorant stupid one."

"You don't want to hand us over." Ronon said.

"No, it would be stupid. Attacking the government buildings the way Teram planned would be useless. Even the combined forces of the rebellion would be easily overthrown by those still loyal to the commanders."

"So, are you letting us go?" Rodney asked, hoping that he would just say yes so that they could get out of this horrible nightmare.

"Possibly, we do not know your intentions. You are not from around here."

"No, we're from 'a galaxy far far away.' We'd be more than willing to just leave if you'd let us."

"I've heard that you came through the ring of the ancestors, and that you possess many valuable weapons. Is that true?"

"Yes, look your rebel 'buddies' have done enough damage to us that there is no way in hell that we're going to trade with you now. You should just let us go and finish your little civil war on your own." Rodney practically screamed.

"You are unwilling to help us?"

"No, so you might as well..." Suddenly a loud crashing noise rang out from all around them.

"I've found them, over here! Hurry!"

Rodney felt a strong hand on his shoulder and whirled around in fear. It was one of the other rebels.

"Run, take you friends and escape! Run, RUN!" Rodney didn't need to be told twice, he got to his feet and started running as fast as he could. What about Sheppard? He spun back around and saw Teyla and Ronon sprinting toward him, Ronon was carrying John.

"Run you idiot!" Ronon said as he passed him.

As soon as his legs started moving there wasn't any way that Rodney could stop them. He was functioning on his 'don't get killed by insane rebels' instinct. The threesome pounded through the forest, with no idea where they were going. They weren't even sure if they were heading toward the Stargate. They could be heading toward the village for all they knew. But it didn't matter, getting away from Teram was their first priority. Arrows whizzed by them in increasing quantities as they ran.

"We are being followed." Teyla yelled.

"No, really?" Rodney shouted back, "What was your first clue?" Teyla stopped and bent down, at first McKay thought she'd been hit. Then, she straitened up with a pair of sticks in her hand.

"Take John back to the Stargate with Ronon," She instructed, "I will hold them off."

Rodney didn't have much room to complain. He worried that she'd get hurt, but their choices right now were limited. He continued to run as fast as he could after Ronon. The arrows stopped zooming past them, but they still ran like there was no tomorrow. Faster and faster they ran until Rodney felt like he was going to collapse. Finally, Ronon stopped next to a large boulder and waited for a huffing and puffing McKay to catch up.

"I think we lost them." Ronon said, not the least bit out of breath.

"We've only been running for 6 miles," Rodney puffed sarcastically, then dropped to the ground breathing hard.

Ronon put John down and took a seat next to McKay. He really needed to 'suck it up' as Sheppard would have said. That man was going to get killed by a mob of angry villagers one of these days if he continued to run like a little girl. Or maybe he'd end up as Wraith bait... He looked up and noticed that Rodney had resumed his normal skin color and was starting to breath a little easier. Time to go. Ronon got to his feet and started to pick up Sheppard.

"What are you doing!" McKay demanded.

"We got to get back to the 'Gate," Ronon replied.

"What? Shouldn't we be waiting for Teyla?"

"No time," Ronon answered, "we gotta go now, before the rest of the rebels catch us."

"I don't mean to pull a Sheppard, but we shouldn't just be leaving her here," Rodney tried to argue.

"We aren't. Once we get to the 'Gate we can sent Sheppard through and I'll go back for her."

"And how do you know if we're going in the right direction?"

"I know," the runner replied and lifted John into his arms. And with that short statement Ronon started walking (thankfully not running, thought Rodney) through the forest.

Rodney groaned and painfully got to his feet, every muscle in his body hurt like he'd fallen down a mountain from their stupid run. If he ever got his hands on Teram... lets just say pointy needles and Carson's voodoo would be involved in the most painful way possible. He let his vision fall on the head of John as he started walking, a bad idea for someone so prone to overreacting. Although Rodney was pretty sure he wasn't overreacting this time. Sheppard looked like _crap_. It had been over six hours since he had really looked at him last, and apparently, things had gone steadily downhill since then. His complexion, that, last he looked, was waxy had changed to pure white. 'A person shouldn't be that pale,' Rodney thought. He watched as Ronon stepped over a log and John got jostled around. His face contorted in obvious pain.

"Stop." Rodney commanded. Much to his surprise, the former runner obliged.

"He needs to rest," Rodney continued.

"He's unconscious." Ronon interrupted. How could someone unconscious need to rest?

"So? He's still in pain, we need to take a break."

Deciding that, with it still so dark out, there wasn't much point to hiking any farther now, Ronon put Sheppard down. Maybe McKay had a point. He saw Sheppard's face relax a little when he stopped getting jostled around. He knew they had to get him back to Atlantis, and fast. Ronon had seen many chest and stomach wounds while on the run, and none of the victims had survived. Some had hung in for a day or so, but eventually they had all died. But Beckett could preform his own fair share of miracles, Ronon reminded himself, he had pulled a great number of Atlantis's team members back from near death. Maybe Sheppard did have a chance.

"I'm going back to look for Teyla," Ronon decided, "McKay, you stay with Sheppard."

"What? Stay here! Are you crazy?" Rodney stuttered, "With all of the crazy rebel goons and ,not to mention, the random flesh-eating forest creatures out here!"

Ronon ignored him, "I'll be back in a little while." Then he ran off.

Great! Now Rodney was alone. Alone with the emptiness of the forest. In a funny way, he wished there were some sort of danger lurking in the trees, that way he wouldn't have to be so paranoid about every sound. But, eventually, he started to let his guard down and turned his attention to the still form of John Sheppard. He was still as pale as a sheet. Rodney reached out and touched his shoulder hoping to get at least a feeble bat of an eyelash. No such luck. Man, were they screwed.

A few minutes passed, then a half-hour. What was taking Ronon and Teyla so long? Had they been shot? Or worse, captured? They were probably fighting in the hands of the rebels being dragged to where he was hiding Sheppard right now. Their hiding place had been discovered, Rodney thought. Now what was he going to do, he couldn't carry John. Suddenly there was a rustle of leaves behind him. They've found us! Rodney panicked, we're dead for sure now!

"Anything happen while I was gone?" Ronon asked looking at a ashen-faced McKay. Teyla came around them and sat down heavily on the ground.

"Are you hurt?" Rodney asked, watching her grab the side of her leg.

"It is just a graze," Teyla replied, "I will be fine. How is Colonel Sheppard?"

"Not good," Ronon answered.

Teyla leaned over and lay the back of her hand on John's forehead. Frowning, she withdrew it.

"His fever is still very high," She reported, "too high."

"We need to leave now," Ronon said.

"Now? But..."

"Look, later might not be an option for Sheppard," Ronon retorted, "And those rebels aren't far behind us. We're leaving,_ now_."

With a defeated spirit, Rodney got to his feet and reached out a hand to help Teyla. She accepted it gratefully. Ronon bent down and lifted Sheppard into a fireman's carry, and they set out again. This time hopefully for home.

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

The lack of a path to follow made their travel seem even longer than it was, and all were happy when they reached the edge of the forest. It seemed Ronon was right again, this was the right direction. Now, that they had traveled back the to the Rebel's base they had only to make it back to the small village. And from there, to the Stargate. They avoided the main rebel base easily given it's size, and quickly headed on toward the village. Time was of the essence, for Sheppard, and for them all.

A few hours ago Ronon had noticed the recent footprints of a troop of rebels heading the same way they were going. No doubt sent to head them off at the Stargate. But, as Sheppard would say, 'they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.' Right now they had to concentrate on making it that far. They had been traveling without food, sleep, and very little water for two days strait. Ronon was the only one who appeared not ready to fall over.

"How do you even stay conscious?" Rodney asked on the evening of the second day. It had been miles since they had passed the rebel base, but they had no idea how far they were from the village.

"Used to go for days without sleep when I was on the run," Ronon replied, "you get used to it."

"Well I'm not," Rodney said, and Teyla had put an arm around him to prevent his collapse.

"We're almost there, Rodney," She reassured, "Within the next day we will have reached the Stargate."

Despite what she said Rodney was sure he wouldn't make it that far. His feet hurt and he had nearly passed out twice from 'manly hunger.' He was convinced the were like mice in a cage, doomed to run in circles for the rest of their lives and never get the cheese... Suddenly the sound of a trumpet could be heard in the distance.

"Signal," Ronon said and started to shift gears into a run, "they know where we are."

TBC

_Whew! I promise I'll try to wrap it up in a chapter or two. Honestly this was meant to be a reasonably short story. Oh well, it's still fun to write. Hope you liked it!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Yeah! Another chapter! If there are a lot of mistakes, blame me. My beta is off on a trip and won't be back for three weeks and I didn't want to wait that long to post... Despite all mistakes I hope you enjoy it! My Christmas treat!_**  
**

**Part 9  
**

Ronon ran faster into the trees and Rodney had to run full out to keep up with him. His pained and worn out body not appreciating the prolonged exercise. They all pushed hard until they reached the tree line and they came face to face with who they were trying to avoid. Rebels, hundreds of them. There was no doubt about what they were prepared to do. And to make matters worse, at the front of the assault team... was Teram.

"Oh, shit," Rodney said, "We are so screwed."

"Look!" Teyla said suddenly. Rodney followed her gaze to a group of people standing behind the troops.

"They're not wearing the same uniforms," Ronon pointed out.

"Are they not rebels?" Teyla asked, for a second letting hope enter her heart.

"I'm not sure... Look out!" They were suddenly showered with arrows.

"Back to the trees!" Ronon yelled. It didn't take much convincing they ran until they were at least 100ft from the edge of the forest.

"No one's following us."

"Perhaps they are waiting for us to try again," Teyla proposed.

"Yeah, why waste the energy chasing us when they know that we have to try again at some point, you know, if we want to live." Rodney said in a defeated sarcastic tone.

Teyla looked back at him with the same tired and defeated look in her eyes. Rodney sat down on the pine needle covered ground and leaned against a tree. If Teyla had bad feelings about this, then there was no way that they were ever going to make it all the way back to the 'Gate alive. Ronon was good, better than Rambo by comparison, but even so he was no match for the hundreds of guards waiting for them. Even if Sheppard was awake, and not on the brink of death, they would still be severally outnumbered.

Speaking of Sheppard...

"How's he doing?" Rodney asked.

Ronon gently lowered the still form to the ground where Teyla could get a good look at him. Her expression darkened.

"We must get him to Doctor Beckett." That was all she would say, and McKay had a pretty good idea why. If it was even humanly possible he looked worse then he had when they last stopped. Rodney, if Teyla hadn't told him otherwise, would have assumed he was a corpse in a heartbeat. A heartbeat that John barely had...

Sounds of screams and weapons could suddenly be heard from the forest all around them. McKay dropped to the ground with his hands over his head.

"They have not found us, Rodney." Teyla said. Rodney looked up into Teyla's amused face.

"I know that, I was just... practicing for future combat situations."

"Right," Ronon cocked an eyebrow.

"It sounds as though the rebels have engaged with the other warriors," Teyla reported, "This may be our chance to escape."

Ronon looked down, "Up McKay, it's now or never."

Rodney pulled himself to his feet, "Hopefully we can make it to the 'gate before I pass out." Teyla nodded. Ronon bent down and picked up Sheppard.

"Let's go." They all walked cautiously to the edge of the forest, not eager to leave the only cover they had before they reached the Stargate.

"Okay," Ronon said, "McKay, you run for the 'gate first and dial it for us. Teyla, I'll run up with you then you can take Sheppard. I have some unfinished business."

"What 'unfinished business'? Wait... You're not thinking about going after Teram!?" Rodney exclaimed.

"Ronon, it is madness. You cannot go back for revenge," Teyla tried to talk him out of it.

"I can't just leave him here, not after what he did to Sheppard." From the look on his face both Teyla and Rodney knew he wasn't going to be stopped.

"Plus, we don't even have our GDOs!" Rodney reminded them, "How are we supposed to get through the 'gate if we don't have anything to make Atlantis lower the shield!"

"You'll think of something."

"Oh, that's _so_ encouraging," Rodney remarked, "if you want to make us force shield pancakes!"

"I have complete trust in your abilities, Rodney," Teyla encouraged.

"Yes, well, I do tend to work rather well under the impending death threat."

"Now's not the time, McKay."

They broke through the few branches remaining between them and the battle and gasped. It appeared as though the two different rebel armies were engaging each other.

"That's real smart, fighting _each other_. After this there won't be much of a resistance left." Rodney said.

"Convenient for us," Ronon replied and started out into the mayhem. Teyla immediately followed, but Rodney faltered.

"Come _on_ Rodney," She called and ran faster. _Please don't die, please don't die. _Rodney thought over and over as he reluctantly followed.

It was complete chaos. It was nearly impossible to tell which group of rebels were which. At least they didn't have to distinguish between the two, to them they were both enemies. They charged between the dead and dying mostly sticking together. Ronon sometimes running ahead of the others. Rodney didn't even really keep track of how far they were from the 'gate. It wouldn't matter if he couldn't come up with some way to get the force shield down.

Ronon was the first to reach the steps by the Stargate, he dropped Sheppard down and looked back for they rest of the team.

"Dial it up, McKay!" He ordered before running back out amongst the battle. Teyla ran up next and dropped down next to John, she looked back toward McKay still running up behind her. He pelted over to the DHD and started hitting the address in rapidly. The symbols lite up and the unstable vortex pushed outward.

"Now what, Rodney?" Teyla asked uncertainly.

"How am I supposed to know? We don't have a GDO!" He looked down at the ground and grabbed a large rock out of the grass.

"Wait... I have an idea."

Ronon dashed madly through the battle winding through the many fighting figures. He was searching for one in particular. Turning around he saw him. Teram was a skilled fighter and he was taring through his opponents like paper. His next adversary wouldn't go down so easily... Ronon rushed at Teram just as he finished with one of the other rebels. He was knocked to the ground by the sheer force of the impact.

"What are you doing?!" Teram roared when he realized who had just tackled him. All Ronon did was grunt as he grabbed a sword off of the ground beside them.

"What are you going to do with that?" Teram started to whimper, "You're not going to kill me are you? All of the things I've done have been for my people! My planet needs my leadership, if you kill me you're killing all of the people of this planet!"

"I'm fine with that," Ronon replied and drove the sword into Teram's chest. He didn't even have a chance to scream. Just like he never gave Sheppard a chance...

"Off-world activation!" One of the technicians shouted as the Atlantis Stargate kawooshed to life and the force shield was raised. Dr. Weir rushed out of her office as fast as her legs would carry her.

"Do you have identification?" She asked, wishing beyond hope that the only off-world team was returning home.

The tech shook his head, "No, ma'am." She stood out in front of the control console and stared out at the rippling water effect of the event horizon. Fingers crossed.

_Pound._ Was that an impact on the force shield?

"Sargent?" She asked uncertainly. He looked back at her, just as confused if not horrified.

...p_ound, pound.. Pound... Pound... Pound... Pound, pound, pound._

"Is it just me or did that sound a lot like..."

"An S.O.S?" Elizabeth finished, "Yes, it did. Lower the shield!"

"Ma'am? How do we know..."

"That's an order!" She hurried as fast as her dignified demeanor would allow down the steps leading to the Stargate. That had to be SGA-1, who else would have know to send an S.O.S? Before she got to the bottom a shower of arrows flew through the open wormhole. She stepped back up out of the way. _Come on... Come on..._

Slurp. Rodney fell through the Stargate and landed in a heap on the floor.

"Medical team!" Dr. Weir called. Forgetting about her safety she ran down to Rodney's side, he was unconscious. Teyla and Sheppard came through next. For a moment Teyla was able to keep herself and John standing but her body gave out a second later and left her laying next to McKay.

"Where's Ronon?" Elizabeth asked.

"He should be right behind us..." Teyla whispered before she lost consciousness as well. _God, John. What had happened out there? _She looked back up at the Stargate, then back at the control room.

Slurp. Ronon emerged from the wormhole, and, much to Elizabeth's surprise, didn't pass out.

"Raise the shield!" Dr. Weir ordered. She could hear the energy field crackle to life behind her, but her attention was on Ronon.

"What happened?" She asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"The residents of M3C-291 aren't going to be good allies."

Dr. Weir cast him a confused and sympathetic expression as the sound of gurneys rushed into the room.

"Bloody Hell," Carson said when he saw the fallen team, "wha' happened?" He knelt down to feel Colonel Sheppard's pulse.

"He's been stabbed, Doc," Ronon said. Beckett cast him a disbelieving look before he pulled back the bandages covering his wound. When he saw the damaged flesh he laid his hand next to it on his chest and observed the heat there.

"Oh good Lord," he declared, "get 'em down to the infirmary. An' get Colonel Sheppard prepped for surgery!"

"Surgery!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Aye, surgery," Carson explained, "I can' tell a lot righ' away, but he's got a nasty infection, and tha' close to the lungs an' heart... Not ter' mention any internal injuries." He stopped noticing the panic in Elizabeth's eyes.

"I'll take good care of him, Lass," he said and turned to jog after the gurneys rattling down the hall.

Ronon, who protested riding started to follow him towards the infirmary. Elizabeth looked after them wide-eyed. Absentmindedly she ran a hand through her hair. _God, _Dr. Weir wondered, _what **had** happened out there?_ Quickly she shook herself back into the present and followed the well-used path to the infirmary.

Dr. Carson Beckett came down the hall looking at Colonel Sheppard's file. The lad was lucky, that was all he had to say. He glanced up and saw someone sitting in a chair outside his office. Even in the dark he could tell who it was.

"Dr. Weir," Carson said, acknowledging her presence.

"Carson," She said quickly jumping to her feet. Her eyes practically digging holes into him with all of her questions.

"He's going to be fine," Carson started. Elizabeth sighed with relief.

"How the lad manages ter' stay alive is beyond me. He may be accident prone but he has luck enough to back it up."

"What do you mean?"

"Another half of an inch and that piece of metal would have severed his carotid artery, and abou' a fourth of an inch in the other direction he might have permanently damaged his lung. As his luck holds it was only a graze on the lung tissue," he shook his head wearily, "an' the infection. It's a wonder it didn' kill him long before he got here."

"What about the others?" Elizabeth asked. Now that she knew john wasn't in deaths door she remembered how beat up they had looked.

"Well, they aren't as bad off as John. But they have their own batch o' trouble. Teyla had been beaten somethin' fierce and has some pretty painful lacerations on her back. Rodney mostly was suffering from his hypoglycemia, but we've got him on a glucose drip mixed with some painkillers so that should put him right. Ronon is the best off of all of them, no surprise there, he was the only one able to stay conscious long enough for me to finish my examination."

Dr. Weir met Carson's eyes and smiled. "Looks like the teams going to live to fight another day."

"Aye, to fight an' end up righ' back in my infirmary," Carson added.

"Naturally, they can't ever seem to keep out of trouble. " Elizabeth smiled, once again John's team had beaten the odds. Good thing too, she wasn't sure what Atlantis would do without them.

_Do you think I should write an epilogue? I'm not sure if there should be more of this story or not... Please review!!!!! My first fanfic is finished!!!! (Well, that part is kind of up to the people who review...)_


	10. Chapter 10: Epilogue

_Oh my gosh. I can't believe this took me so long to write. Forget the 'I'm sorry', by now most people probably forgot the plot! Well here it is, as late as it is... the epilogue!!!!!!!!  
_

* * *

**Part 10: Epilogue**

"I knew I'd find you out here," John said as he walked out onto the balcony. Elizabeth turned around from her view of the sparkling ocean.

"John, good to see you up and about," she smiled sweetly then narrowed her eyes, "Carson told me he wasn't releasing you for a few more days."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him," Sheppard replied his eyes twinkling with mischief, "besides I feel fine now."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him, and then decided that it was better not to argue, "I thought Carson was posting guards whenever you showed up in the infirmary."

"Hey, who's the ranking military officer around here?"

The storming figure in the control room coming their way caught Elizabeth's eye and she mentally started counting down. He found John in record time this go around.

"What?" John asked, noticing her looking over his shoulder. He turned around.

"Oh, crap…"

"Colonel! Wha' the HELL do ye think yer doing?!" Carson exclaimed emerging out onto the balcony, "When I say ya stay with me a few more days I truly mean a few more days. Ye should be back in bed!"

"Looks like I'm busted," John grinned turning to Dr. Weir.

"I'll say! Yer bloody lucky I'm not making ya ride a wheelchair back down to my infirmary."

"You wouldn't!" John exclaimed showing mock horror.

"Aye, and ya better get yer arse back down there now before I change my mind."

John shrugged and cocked his head in Elizabeth's general direction before walking through the door, "I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

"That's never stopped ya before," Dr. Beckett muttered under his breath, then shook his head, "better make sure he makes it back."

Elizabeth nodded and looked back to the ocean before following Dr. Beckett back inside toward the control room.

SGA

After much bickering, complaining, and fighting tooth and nail, John had finally been forced back into his infirmary bed. And, naturally, he was bored out of his mind. 

"Carson!" he called out across the dimmed lights of the infirmary. No one answered. John knew that he was in his office, he'd just seen him go in there an hour ago.

"CARSON!"

"What do ya _want,_ Colonel?!?" Dr. Beckett said sticking his head out of his office, "people need ter be sleeping this time of night."

"You and I are the only people here," John countered.

"Aye, but there are quarters just up the hall a bit and they can hear ya. They can probably hear ya in the control room for that matter."

John frowned and rolled his eyes, "when can I get out of here?"

"When I'm satisfied that you won' pull your stitches out trying ter run round the whole bloody city."

"I thought you approved of exercise, Doc?" It was Carson's turn to roll his eyes.

"You never give up, do you?" an annoying voice came from the door. Rodney had just walked into the room.

"Nope. Never give up, never surrender!" John said in a mock-hero voice. Carson cocked an eyebrow, then turned on McKay.

"It's a wee bit early to be up isn't in, Rodney?"

"Oh, I hadn't noticed. I haven't had a chance to look at a clock all night."

"Visiting hours are over, Rodney. Why don't you just go up to your room an get a few hours sleep before your mandatory physical tomorrow."

"What?!" Rodney noticeably paled.

"What? You don' remember? I scheduled you before your last mission," Carson said, forcing himself to keep as strait of face as he could manage. Rodney didn't notice Dr. Beckett's plight.

"Really? Oh, um. I just came by to ask flyboy here when he was finished doing his time, but I think I'm gonna just go to bed," after squeezing out those words at the speed of light he darted from the room.

"It's not a bloody prison, Rodney!!!" Carson yelled after him, his annoyance building. John waited till the sounds of the fleeing physicist faded away before reprimanding Carson.

"That was purely evil," he accused.

"Aye, but it's _my_ infirmary," The Scot replied with more than a touch of malice.

John shook his head, Carson had him there. Suddenly more footsteps could be heard entering the room. Dr. Beckett looked up and saw Teyla and Ronon coming towards him.

"Does nobody bother ter sleep anymore?" Carson complained, "Ye do know it's a necessary bodily function, right?"

"I was heading to bed but thought I would stop by to check on the Colonel. We will be brief, Doctor Beckett," Teyla assured him. Carson looked annoyed but reluctantly agreed telling them that they had five minutes. Then he left muttering something under his breath about big needles.

"Doesn't he know it's movie night?" John asked, "How was it, by the way? I was told one of the scientists managed to smuggle in 'Back to the Future'. I love those movies."

"I liked it," Ronon said.

"I, also, rather liked the movie," Teyla commented, "but Rodney seems to find it distasteful."

"Well, that's Rodney for ya." John said, seeming a little distracted.

Ronon looked up at his tired eyes, "So how're you doing?"

"Good," He replied quickly, "You?"

"Fine."

Teyla mentally sighed. Men were so bad at expressing emotion. "John," She said, "if you wish to talk to us about something…"

"No," John said quickly, "I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all."

"Would you like us to leave you to rest?"

"Sure, ol' Doc will come around soon to kick you out anyway."

Both Ronon and Teyla got up to leave.

"Goodnight, John."

"'Night, Sheppard."

John watched them start to walk out the door, "wait," he said as an afterthought. They turned around to look at him.

"Thanks for being there for me."

Teyla smiled at him with one of her gentle smiles, "You have done the same thing for us many times."

"It's all part of being a team," Ronon added.

"Yeah, it's nice to know there's always someone watching your back," John said. Teyla nodded, "Goodnight, John."

"'Night, Teyla." Then they left. At the best and worst of times they were still friends, still a team. Him, Teyla, Ronon, Rodney, even Beckett, Elizabeth and Radek. After all that they'd been through, they were family. And through anything that was to come they'd still be family. It was nice to know there was always going to be someone to welcome you home.

**THE END **

* * *

_It feels so good to __finally write those two last words. He, he I discovered the line tool isn't it special? Now, to start another story. The plot bunnies are eating me alive after all of this time...  
_  



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